


Fish Out of Water

by coachdad (catsnore)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, mermaid au, riku is a mermaid basically just bear with me ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:24:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4707515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsnore/pseuds/coachdad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riku swims into a boat and wakes up with this strange human offering him sand witches. Apparently he's stuck here for now, which is just dandy. How did he manage to wind up with the smiley-est human in the entire explored world?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fish Out of Water

The first two things Riku noticed were the warmth on his face and the soreness enveloping most of his body. He opened his eyes slowly and winced at how _brightly_ the world welcomed him. Was that the sun? What was the sun doing here? And the sky? He blinked a few times to get his bearings, before looking down.

So _that’s_ why he felt so sore. Riku’s stomach was one big bruise, and the bright turquoise scales on his tail couldn’t cover up the deep purple spots beneath them. Cuts littered his arms, though some were covered by shoddy bandages. How did those get there? He focused his examination even lower down his tail, only to discover the edges of his fin were ragged and bloody. His heart dropped to his stomach and he looked around frantically. Something hard and a little sharp was digging into his back, and the water barely reached his chest. He was in a tide pool? How had he gotten here? His head felt fuzzy, and he needed to process so many things at once… and that starfish was getting way too close. He frowned and tossed it to the other side, ignoring the protests from his torso as he leaned forward.

He was too lost in his confusion to hear footsteps in his direction, and when someone moved into his line of sight, he jumped. Ow, shit, that was a bad idea. As if he needed that reminder that he was injured, thanks. Still, reflexes couldn’t be helped, and humans would never not surprise him; especially when he was hurt and seemed to be stuck in this little pool.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Human languages always sounded strange to him. Maybe it was the fact that they traveled through air rather than water. Whatever the reason, it always took Riku a few moments to process the sounds before he could understand them. “It figures you’d wake up in the ten minutes I was gone, right?” Regardless, this human’s voice was sweet and kind. Was it normal for humans to act like that towards mermaids? All the horror stories he’d heard told him that no, it wasn’t.

Riku looked up to see a face that he swore just couldn’t be real. Smiles didn’t come that big naturally. He’d never seen human eyes that blue, or ones that beamed as brightly as the grin below them. The kind smile was surrounded by a messy mane of brown hair, and smooth, dark skin that contrasted _so_ well with the human’s ivory teeth. The human was covered in baggy clothes and was wearing… large yellow shoes? He’d never understand the way humans chose to accessorize their bodies. The sleek metal decorations that mermaids wore made much more sense. He still had his ring, right? Yes he did, he realized after twisting it around his finger.

He didn’t notice he was spacing out until the human began to speak again. “I brought sand witches. I thought you might be hungry? You were out for a while.” It presented a tray covered in things that distinctively did not look like witches that lived in the sand. What did humans even do to their food to reduce it to these tiny triangles? Was a “sand witch” human slang for some kind of animal?

Riku stared up at this small human for a few moments before finally deciding to speak. “Do I like what?” His voice cracked, to his horror. He cleared it with a cough and willed color away from his cheeks.

Instead of answering his question, the human’s face lit up again in a smile that somehow seemed even bigger than the one before. “Cool, you can talk! I was afraid you wouldn’t understand me!” After saying this, the human knelt down beside the pool and offered the tray again. It hovered uncomfortably close to his face. 

Riku frowned. “Human isn’t my first language,” he replied, examining the small mountain in front of him. His reply earned him a happy giggle from the human. “Is this food?” He picked one of the triangles up and held it close to his face, suppressing a pained wince at the movement. It didn’t smell terrible, but the dryness in between his two fingers was… different.

“Yeah, it’s pbj! You can have as many as you want!” The human seemed content to squat there while Riku put a hesitant bite in his mouth.

It tasted… sweet? And so _sticky_ Riku couldn’t help but pull a face as he tried to get the substance off the roof of his mouth. Parts crumbled in his mouth in a way he’d never experienced before, but the overall taste wasn’t terrible. The outer edges of the sand witch actually pulled apart from each other, to reveal purple and brown spreads in between them. For all his inspections, Riku could not come up with one reason it would be called sandy. But although it was incredibly strange, he had to admit it was pretty good.

He took another bite.

“Do you like it?” the human piped up. Riku was beginning to think its smile was painted on. Surely it had to be fake.

“… It’s alright.” This human couldn’t know how much he liked this sticky, sweet, crumbly thing he was eating. It could _not_ think he could enjoy anything produced by humans. After all, mermaid society was superior, and this human needed to know that. It was time to change the subject. He had pressing matters to attend to. “Where am I?”

For the first time, the human looked a little nervous. It set the tray on the ground with a clatter, though it remained within arm’s reach, just in case Riku wanted more. (He did.) The human’s eyes traveled up and down his body, as if it was reminding itself why it was here. Riku felt himself tense for a moment, but begrudgingly relaxed after the subsequent pain spike proved too much for him. “You were washed up on the beach, and you looked like you were in really big trouble… So I brought you here! It’s just a pool not too far from where I found you, but it’s a little more secluded.” The human glanced up towards Riku’s face and continued. “I got some bandages but I’m not that great at that stuff, so I don’t know how much I helped. But at least you’re not baking on the beach, right?”

The human had a point. A surge of warm gratitude grew in Riku’s chest. He immediately suppressed it, at least until he could figure out what the human’s intentions truly were. “Why did you help me?”

The human’s brow furrowed and an absent finger scratched at its jaw. “I couldn’t just leave you there, you know? I thought you were gonna die!” It immediately began to wave its arms like it was trying to fly away. Did all humans emote with this much sincerity? “And I was afraid of what would happen if someone else found you.”

Riku’s expression darkened. So even humans acknowledged how dangerous they were. His fin twitched involuntarily, and he placed the third sand witch back on the tray, suddenly hungry no longer. Even if this human was unusually warm, Riku was not safe here, and he couldn’t forget that.

“But it’s okay, I haven’t told anyone else!” The human had sensed his worsening mood, it seemed. It made an x over its chest with a few fingers. “I’m just trying to help, honest!”

“I would’ve been fine,” Riku said coldly, turning his face away from the human. Deep down, he knew he’d probably have been a goner without this human’s intervention, but at least turning away meant it couldn’t see him grimace in pain again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the human cross its arms over its chest. “Is that so? I bet you’re fine enough to just swim back home too, huh? Huh?”

This time Riku winced more like a student being lectured by their teacher for passing notes in class. He refused to answer, instead flicking his fin once more. Being caught in a lie was never a good thing to experience. He’d sink farther into the water if it would mean avoiding the human’s gaze.

“What happened, anyway?” The human’s expression softened into one of concern. Riku couldn’t help but feel a little more at ease. It was hard to be prickly in the face of someone so obviously worried about him. “You’re beat up pretty bad.”

Riku shrugged half-heartedly. Fuzzy details danced around his head, unwilling to be pinned down for further mental examination. “I remember a shark.” It was more of a question than a statement. His wounds didn’t look like bites, though it was clear he’d been bleeding. “And a boat? I think…” An image surfaced in his mind. _Something was chasing him, and before he could react, a large, metal object appeared in his path._

The human could tell he was struggling for an answer, and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. An icy glare from Riku caused it to retract it though. “It’s okay, I guess it’s not that important. What’s important is that you need to see a doctor! Or something… Do mermaids have doctors?” Embarrassed at its ignorance, the human scratched at the back of its neck.

“Of course we have doctors,” Riku spat, a tad more venomous than he’d intended. “We have doctors for diseases and healers for wounds.” What could this human think of him, if it had assumed there would be no medical care waiting for him at home?

“Healers… Do you mean like magic stuff?” A look of absolute wonder crossed the human’s face. “That’s so cool!!” Its eyes were _sparkling_ : Riku swore he could see it. “Hold on, can you just heal yourself? Then you could go right back home, right?”

Sure, that would be a great idea, if Riku had any talent at all when it came to healing. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t even mend the smallest scrapes, much less whatever mess he was dealing with right now. And the best healers were leagues away, probably. He’d swum for a long time to get away from that shark, at least if his dim memories were to be believed. He swallowed the panic beginning to bubble in his chest.

The human seemed to take his silence as a no, and it frowned in worry. “What if you just stay here until you’re okay enough to get back home?” It had to know that its suggestion was incredibly unhelpful, because it continued. “There’s this really secluded spring-waterfall behind my house I can take you to. It’ll only be for a few days, right?” A smile began to blossom on its face again, like it was growing excited for the idea as it spoke. “No one will see you there, and that way I’ll be able to change your bandages and stuff no sweat!”

Riku hesitated.

“Plus I can make you all the pbj you want!”

He couldn’t help but look back at the tray of sand witches. They were pretty delicious. And this human appeared trustworthy enough. It at least looked like it would be bad at lying.

“… A few days couldn’t hurt.”

The human laughed and punched its fist into the air in a celebratory gesture. “Cool! Uh…” It looked around, its mouth tightening into a thoughtful line. Riku only caught a few words as it mumbled to itself. _“Not too far… probably manage…”_

“What was that?” Riku’s eyebrows went up of their own accord. He knew he wasn’t going to like the next thing to come out of the human’s mouth. 

“Well you see…” The human stood up and looked around again. “Do you think it would hurt too bad for me to carry you there?”

He was right. He definitely did not like that thing that just came out of its mouth. “What.”

“It’s not far! And no one would see you! That’s how close it is.” The human had energy, he’d give it that. Somehow, though, that didn’t make him feel any better about the proposition.

“No.”

“But-”

“No. Absolutely not.” Riku stiffened, and managed to keep the position this time. He was _not_ about to let some human carry him around like some helpless animal. Besides, there were other, more mystical options at his disposal. “Not when I can just…” Not when he could just make himself legs for now. Rather than explain with words, he decided to let his magic do the talking.

At least, he would have, if his mind hadn’t been too foggy to focus on the energy within him. He clenched his jaw, willing it to just _work_ , damn it. Normally he far exceeded his peers in terms of transformation magic, but one wouldn’t know for looking at him at the moment. His fingers dug into his palms as his frustration caused him to tense up even more. Of course, this just intensified the pain pulsing through him.

After about fifteen seconds of intense face-clenching, he finally gave up with a sigh, slumping back into the water. He peered up at the human and was met with pure confusion on its face. How could so much light radiate from an expression like that? The human opened its mouth to speak but Riku quickly cut him off. “I was going to give myself legs,” he explained before it could ask.

The confusion on its face was quickly replaced with wonder. “You can do that??”

“Usually I can, yes.” Was it true that humans had absolutely no magic? Riku found it hard to believe that it would be reacting like this if magic were commonplace in its culture. “But I can’t get it to focus right now.”

“Oh…” The human’s entire body seemed to sink in disappointment. A moment of silence passed, and then it popped back up again. “Hold on, I have another idea!” Without any more explanation, it turned and raced away, leaving Riku to stew in his own bewilderment.

He didn’t have much of a choice but to wait. How could he have messed up so bad to land in this shit pool? Usually he prided himself on his perfectionistic tendencies, but not only had he swam headfirst into a _fucking boat_ , he then proceeded to completely blow a simple self-transformation in front of an audience! He might as well be a fingerling again, as far as his pride was concerned.

“I’m back!” The human’s musical voice snapped him out of his self-pity tinged reverie. He looked up to see that it was pushing a chair with wheels stuck to the bottom of it. A large blanket covered in stars sat on top of the seat. “How’s this? Better than being carried, right?” The human had a proud look on its face.

Riku had to admit that it looked more comfortable. He also allowed himself to be a little impressed that humans had thought to attach wheels to chairs. The concept would be completely useless underwater, but it made sense on land. Now the main problem would be actually getting into it.

As it turned out, the human’s scrawny arms were stronger than they looked, and Riku barely had to hang on as it carefully pulled him out of the water and into the chair. Good thing too, as the resulting hot, white pain in his shoulders made holding on difficult, to say the least. He was still clearing his head from the sudden jolts when the human dipped the blanket into the water, and then spread it across his lap.

“Sorry… I won’t have to do that again, promise,” the human murmured, looking guilty for having made him hurt more, if only for a moment. “The spring at home has enough shallows that I can just wheel you in!” It offered an apologetic smile and, after asking for a go-ahead, began to push Riku away from the ocean for the first time.

As his distance from the waves increased, so did the panic in Riku’s throat. He gripped the arms of his chair with as much force as his sore limbs would allow. Sure, he wasn’t the first mermaid to check out the human world, nor would he be the last. The spells that allowed them to transform had been around for hundreds of years, at least. Riku himself, however, had never expressed interest in being one of those explorers. Especially not like this.

“Oh yeah!” The human’s voice was above him. He tilted his chin up to try and get a better look at it from this angle. “I haven’t even asked your name yet!”

That’s what it was worried about? Riku managed a wry smile. “It’s Riku.”

“Riku. Rikuuuu.” The human repeated the word a few times, beginning to smile again. “Well, it’s good to meet you, Riku! I’m Sora!”

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to make this multi-chaptered, but I thought this was just sweet enough that adding more chapters would sort of ruin it? If I have more inspiration I'll add something eventually.  
> Mermaid is gender neutral even though it ends in 'maid' just like the word human is gender neutral even though it ends in 'man'  
> BAM  
> So I'm probably not gonna use the term merman very much, if at all.  
> Also! Fingerling is a rly weird word but that's what a baby fish is called, so it's also what baby mermaids are called now.


End file.
